And an update on our coverage of the Dakota Access pipeline and the resistance to it: Democracy Now! will be heading back to North Dakota to continue our coverage of the standoff at Standing Rock. As has been reported here and elsewhere, as a result of Democracy Now!’s reporting over Labor Day weekend last month, Amy Goodman was charged by the state of North Dakota with criminal trespass. A warrant was issued for her arrest on September 8—five days after we released video of the Dakota Access pipeline company’s security guards physically assaulting nonviolent, mostly Native American land protectors, pepper-spraying them and unleashing attack dogs, one of which was shown with blood dripping from its nose and mouth.

Protester: “These people are just threatening all of us with these dogs. And she, that woman over there, she was charging, and it bit somebody right in the face.”

Amy Goodman: “The dog has blood in its nose and its mouth.”

Protester: “And she’s still standing here threatening us.”

Amy Goodman: “Why are you letting their—her dog go after the protesters? It’s covered in blood!”

Goodman will be turning herself in to authorities at the Morton County jail in North Dakota on Monday morning at 8 a.m. North Dakota time and intends to vigorously fight this charge as she sees it as a direct attack on the First Amendment, freedom of the press? and the public’s right to know. More information is available at democracynow.org. Continue reading

MICHAEL MORELL: The Syrian Civil War has to end! And the reason it has to end is because it is feeding Extremism in Iraq and Syria.

Even if we get our arms around ISIS and squeeze ISIS down and down and down and down, the Civil War will continue to breed Extremism. ISIS will go away, and some other Group will replace it.

The Syrian Civil War needs to end! In my view there is Not a Military Solution to that! And the reason there is not a military solution to that is because a military solution would end up with the destruction of the Syrian Military, the Syrian Security Services, Syrian Intelligence Services, etc. etc. etc., Syrian Police. And if you destroy all of those in an attempt to end the Civil War, you are left with a complete vacuum: Security Vacuum, Stability Vacuum – you end up with LIBYA or IRAQ! Continue reading

Alia Schindler: “With the growing number of attacks against the American Muslim community, federal officials need to make the statement that these types of attacks are not acceptable, whether they’re against the American Muslim community, or any minority group.

Tabacco: Better yet, ALL Republican Presidential Candidates need to Cease & Desist from making Inflammatory Statements, which provoke, empower and urge Americans, who are intellectually and educationally challenged and buy-into these Politically motivated Rants to commit Murders for what they believe to be Just Cause!

I ACCUSE: Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorino and all the other GOP Candidates, who take no responsibility for their INCENDIARY VERBIAGE! Continue reading

A search-and-rescue mission has been launched, but the fate of two ejected pilots is still unclear. Russia is claiming one of them is dead, and there are reports the other has been captured. Russia’s also saying one of its marines was killed in the rescue operation.

Moscow is furious! Russian President Putin called this “a stab in the back that will have serious consequences”.

Want to get right to CNN’s Barbara Starr at the Pentagon!

Barbara, what are U.S. officials telling you?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, they are monitoring those Russian reports that at least one of the Russian pilots is dead, but, clearly, Washington wanting this situation not to escalate out of control, trying to keep it calm, and one reason may be that right now, at this hour, the Pentagon cannot say for sure that the Russian plane was shot down inside Turkish airspace.
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TABACCO: Don’t worry! CNN is attempting to frighten you! That Tactic is EXTREMELY GOOD FOR RATINGS!

Allow Tabacco to explain why this Shoot-Down is not as Dangerous for Turkey or the World as CNN would have us believe! Continue reading

MICHAEL MCFAUL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA, “We did have conversations, just so you know, when I was still in the government, about the likelihood, probability, concerns of him going into Crimea, into Ukraine. We had those discussions. But to predict that, to say, oh, I know with certainty he`s going to go into Crimea on this date, we`re not good at that. You`re right.”
TABACCO, “That is an EXCUSE, NOT a REASON! Exact dates are not necessary! But predicting Putin would do it is both necessary and essential so you can prepare your own response before the fact, not after the fact!”

MCFAUL, “We`re not good at that because we don`t have, you know, a lot of connectivity with president Putin personally. He`s a very isolated individual. He meets with only a very small handful of American leaders and the circle around him also, or not, people hanging out with the ambassador drinking vodka talks about what Putin thinks.” – TABACCO, “You’ve got Putin’s historical precedents, not to mention that illusive ‘psychohistorical’ assessment that should be in the CIA files! If we knew how to do it in the 1970s when Nixon was President, why have we forgotten how to do it in the 2010s! Is Tabacco the only one in America, who remembers anything prior to 9/11/2001!”

President of Russia, Vladimir V. Putin, “No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.” – Tabacco: The Mainstream Media wants you to consider the Messenger and IGNORE the Message. That is Sophists’ Trickery No. 1. That Tact excuses you from considering the Charge, which should be answered honestly and directly regardless of whether offered by Saint or Sinner. You must refute the Message, not the Messenger! Is the Message correct only because Martin Luther King said it and incorrect because the messenger was Adolf Hitler? Does that make Logical Sense to you? Continue reading